5Yo has violent fits, will NOT sleep, no appetite

[Zodiac_]

Hello all,
I've never posted here before but i did read through some threads before posting. My 5yo son has been diagnosed with ADHD as of a year to a year and a half ago. He has always had some behavioral issues but nothing that positive reinforcement, charting or just a good old fashioned stern talking to and time in the corner couldnt handle.

Now for the last month and a half roughly he has not been sleeping at night, waking up screaming for no reason, coming into our bedroom throughout the night and either waking us up or sneaking in and sleeping on the floor, has had no appetite, refuses to stay in his own room at night, throws violent fits(more on this next), lies, will not socialize with other children and is exhausted all day from not sleeping.

The fits are progressivly getting worse as time goes on and both him, my wife and myself grow increasingly exhausted. They usually happen the most at night when we try to put him to bed, he screams, stomps, thrashes and throws himself against the walls and furniture. These fits occur when it is bedtime, when he wakes up at night, when we try and put him back to bed, when we try and have him eat ANY meal, if he doesnt get something he wants and other generally random times when things seem to be going well. He has bruises and scrapes all over his back and legs from this, on top of just a few nights ago making himself physically ill and vomitting on himself while throwing a fit in bed. These fits last intermittently for about 1-4 hours, getting longer and more severe as the days go by. He also will strip down completely naked when unattended during a fit, during the day if hes starting one with us around he will start with a look of defiance and kick off his shoes while tightening about every muscle in his body. the muscle tightening/rigiditty is a common factor in the fits too.

We have tried to talk to his pediatrician that prescribed his ADHD medication and diagnosed him with ADHD, but he doesnt have any suggestions on what to do. He even believes that it might be bi-polar disorder(which my wife was recently diagnosed with) but we cannot for the life of us find a child psychologist in our area that takes our insurance. He has given us a few different drugs to try but none have made a difference. We have even increaed his nighttime ADHD pill to its maximum safe dosage and that only buys us about 4 hours of quiet before the fight begins.

At the risk of making this too long; we have tried, positive re-enforcement(stay in bed tonight and you can play wii tomorrow), the corner(he now SLAMS his face and body into the wall if we do this), spanking(doesnt make a difference), ignoring the fits(can only do this so much as we live in an apartment and fits are usually after midnight), increasing activity(swiming, tball, 4 mile trail hikes), taking away TV, video games, toys, stuffed animals etc.

Nothing works! If anyone has gone through this PLEASE respond, no one in my house has gotten more than 4 hours of sleep a night in weeks and this is progressivly destroying our family. We are out of options and dont know what we can try to get this to stop while we try and find a psych to help us.

[RockRose]

I agree with Margy - it sounds like probably virtually ALL this behavior is caused by the meds.  

Certainly the sleeplessness, moodiness and lack of appetite are common side effects of stimulants.

I've also never heard of a "night time dose" of ADHD meds (although this may be something new).  Parents usually try to not give any ADHD meds after lunch,  so the child can eat dinner and sleep.

What Rx is he on,  and what dose?

[margypops]

I would say that this is caused by the meds especially as you say you have upped the dose, please be patient with him its not his fault .,spanking/punishing  is not the way and is making it worse ,You should take him back to the prescribing Doctor immediately this child needs help ........